The Chan Clan Begins
by RainbowAurora17
Summary: The Chan family once lived tranquilly until a terrible tragedy changed their lives. Now, six years later, a new catastrophe occurs and Charlie Chan goes missing. Can his ten children find him? Find out as the Chan Clan go on their very first adventure.
1. The Chan Family

**Chapter 1: The Chan Family**

Within a town in New York City was a charming, beautiful little house. Inside of this house lived a well-loved Chinese-American family, the Chans.

On a lovely Friday afternoon, Charlie Chan, a world famous detective, sat down on his couch, reading the newspaper. As he released a relaxing sigh, he soon heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Chunhua?" Charlie called. "Chunhua, darling? Is that you?"

From the stairs came Charlie's beautiful wife and crime-solving assistant, Chunhua Chan. "Yes, dear," she responded. "It's me. I was just tucking little Mimi in her crib." Chunhua sat down and giggled as she continued, "You know, I still can't get over how she started walking last week."

"And on her very first birthday, too," added her devoted husband. "My, our children sure are growing up fast."

"Yes," Chunhua agreed, but her smile quickly faded as she remembered something greatly important. "Oh, dear! Look at the time! It's after 3:00 already. The rest of the children will be home from school soon. I better wash the dishes and get their snacks ready."

Charlie stopped his wife. "Chunhua," he spoke, "we've been over this. You shouldn't be working so hard in your condition. Our new child is due very soon. Allow me to help with the chores."

"Oh, Charlie," Chunhua chuckled as she rubbed her large, pregnant stomach, "stop worrying so much. After nine times, you should be used to this by now."

Charlie laughed alongside his calm, relaxed wife, but their laughter was soon interrupted by the sound of their doorbell ringing rapidly. Charlie didn't have a hard time figuring out who it was. "They're here!" he said with an amused tone.

The very moment Charlie opened the door, his eight elder children dashed inside. "Hi, Mom! Hi, Pop!" they happily greeted their parents.

"Shh!" Chunhua hushed them. "Children, quiet. You'll wake your baby sister."

The eight kids quickly toned down their voices. "Sorry, Mom."

"So, Henry," Chunhua asked her eldest child, "how was middle school?"

"Great, Mom," Henry replied. "I'm really getting the hang of playing the drums in band class."

"Boy, I can't wait 'til I start middle school," his younger brother said.

"Be patient, Stanley," Charlie assured, "you'll be graduating this year. Do not rush things."

"That's right, Stanley," his wife agreed. "And besides, you need to focus on getting your grades up. I've seen your report card. You know, the one you tried to throw away on garbage day last week. And it appears your grades are slipping…again."

"Yes, Mom," Stanley nervously chuckled.

"And how was school for the rest of you?" Charlie asked.

The fourth eldest child answered, "Swell, Pop. In history, they told us about the stuff they did when you and Mom were in school and the clothes you wore. They looked pretty cool to me. I think when I'm older, I'll wear one of those hip sunglasses."

His younger sister, whom wore a bracelet on her left hand, boasted, "I totally nailed the other kids in gym class! You should've seen me! We were playing softball and I ran three home runs! The other team didn't stand a chance! Maybe I'll be a baseball player when I grow up."

"That would be great, Anne," her mother approved.

"Yeah, right!" the fourth child mocked his younger sibling. "A girl baseball player? Good one, Annie! Ha!"

"Don't call me 'Annie'!" Anne demanded.

"Now, Alan," Chunhua scolded, "what have I told you about teasing your sister?"

"Sorry, Mom," her son apologized.

"Mom, Pop, look!" The sixth child, who wore glasses, pulled out his math test from his backpack. "I got a 100."

"That's great, Tom," his father complimented.

"Another 100?" Chunhua praised. "Well, what else can I expect from our little genius?"

"And, Flip, Nancy, I trust preschool was fine for the two of you," Charlie said as he looked at the two youngest of his eight school kids, "I can tell you've been good, Flip. We _didn't_ receive a phone call from your teacher today."

"Well," Chunhua sighed as she got up from the couch, "I better get started with the snacks. Sandwiches sound alright for everybody?"

Her children all nodded as they said, "Yes, Mom."

"I'll help you, Mom," the eldest daughter volunteered.

"Why, thank you, Suzie," Chunhua smiled. "But first, you, Anne, and Nancy go to your room and put away your things. And try not to wake Mimi. Boys, do the same. Go up to your room and put your stuff away before you have your sandwiches."

As told, the eight children headed upstairs to their rooms.

"They can be a handful sometimes, but they're wonderful," gushed Chunhua. "I wonder how our next one will be like."

"Only time will tell, my dear," Charlie replied. "Now let's get the sandwiches ready."

"Oh, and, honey," his wife reminded, "don't forget, Anne's birthday is next week. Did you get my birthday present for her?"

"Yes, Chunhua," Charlie nodded. "And don't worry. I'm certain Anne will love it."

With that, the happy couple exited their living room and walked into their kitchen to prepare their snacks.


	2. The Dangerous Assignment

**Chapter 2: The Dangerous Assignment**

An hour later, the eight Chan children were sitting in the living room, eating their delicious sandwiches that perfectly made by their wonderful mother, who was assisted by the helpful Suzie.

Alongside them was their sister, Mimi, whom had awakened from her nap after the sandwiches were completed. After finishing her snack, Suzie helped feed Nancy some cereal as she sat in her high chair. The little toddler completed her bowl, but alas, was not satisfied.

As she cried, Suzie turned to her mother and said, "Mom, I think Nancy's still hungry."

"How?" Flip complained. "That's her fifth bowl of cereal, and she ate a sandwich before that! How much can a three-year-old eat?"

Chunhua gave her baby daughter, Mimi, whom was in a playpen, her bottle of milk and said, "Please, Flip. Your sister just has a big appetite. Nothing to get upset about. Still, we don't want to make her sick by overfeeding her. Suzie, just give Nancy her toy apple to calm her down."

As told, Suzie gave her little sister a toy apple, and the slightly chubby child immediately stopped crying and chewed on the soft toy.

"It doesn't matter whether it's real or not, Nancy's happy with _any_ food," Anne giggled.

As she took another bite out of her sandwich, the young tomboy accidentally chewed on some of her long hair. "Oh, this hair!" Anne fumed. "It's just too long. One of these days, I'm gonna trim it."

Despite having difficulty eating, Anne completed her sandwich and was about to head to the kitchen to dispose of her plastic plate, but was stopped by Stanley.

"Wait, Anne!" he requested. "Don't throw that away. I'm gonna need it."

Anne gave her big brother the used plate. "Uh, sure, but what for?"

Stanley explained, "In art class, they taught us how to make masks out of paper plates. I'm gonna make all kinds to disguise myself. Maybe I'll make a tiger mask with your plate and a frog mask with mine."

Henry face palmed. "I sure hope this masks and disguising thing don't become a permanent hobby."

Just then, the family's moment was interrupted by their house phone ringing.

"I'll get it!" Henry got up from the couch and walked over to the telephone, but before he could answer, his younger brother, Flip, zoomed over and picked up the phone. "Well, one of these days, I'll get it," Henry growled to himself.

"Hello?" Flip answered the phone. "Who? Oh, yeah, he's here. Yo, Pop, it's for you. It's the fuzz."

"Why, Flip," his mother chided. "Where did you learn to talk like that? From all those cops and robbers movies, I'll bet."

"Sorry, Mom," Flip said as he lowered his head.

His father took the phone from his son and spoke, "Hello? Yes, Sergeant Barnwell. I see. I'll be right there." Charlie hung up.

"What is it, dear?" asked Chunhua.

"It was Sergeant Ralph Barnwell about that drug smuggling operation," Charlie informed. "It appears they still need more evidence to prove that Tony Vito is guilty. The sergeant wishes for me to check out the old abandoned warehouse where Vito once worked at on Cornell Street."

"Well," Chunhua decided, "let me just grab my coat and we'll get going."

"Chunhua," Charlie fretted, "normally, I have no problem with you accompanying me, but perhaps you shouldn't. As said, in your condition, you mustn't be working so hard."

"Charlie, please," Chunhua insisted, "I'm not only your wife, but I'm also your assistant. Where you go, I go."

"You go, Mom!" Anne cheered.

"Mother, maybe you should do what Pop says," young Tom worried. "Besides, you are a female. Beating up bad guys is for guys, not ladies."

"Dear Tom," Chunhua patiently chuckled as she put on her slim pink fur coat, "you really have much to learn about ladies."

"Shall we be off then, Chunhua?" a reluctant Charlie asked.

"Yes, Charlie, we shall," his wife answered before turning to her first-born child. "Henry, you're in charge. Keep an eye on your siblings while we're gone."

"Check, Mom," Henry saluted. "Will do."

"Nail those crooks, Mom! You too, Pop!" Anne encouraged her parents.

As the Chan parents walked out of their front door, Charlie smiled, "Young Suzie may have your wonderful appearance, Chunhua, but little Anne has your spirit."

As the pair entered their car, their son, Alan, watched as they drove off. "Boy," he thought aloud, "with our family getting bigger, it feels like that dinky little car is getting smaller. If only we could get a new, bigger car."

"Forget it, Alan," Flip dismissed. "Pop says a new ride costs a lot of big bucks."

"Yeah," Anne agreed. "Too bad you can't just make one."

"Yeah," Alan sighed as he grabbed a sheet of paper. With a pencil, he creatively drew a picture of a large van. "At least, not yet."


	3. Chunhua's Disappearance

**Chapter 3: Chunhua's Disappearance**

Several minutes later, Charlie and Chunhua Chan arrived at the abandoned warehouse.

As they exited their car, Chunhua felt baffled. "I still don't understand what we'll be able to find here," she puzzled. "It's been closed down for almost a year. More than enough time for Vito to bury any evidence."

"You'd be surprised, my dear," Charlie reassured his wife.

The investigating couple entered the deserted building. Sadly, they found nothing in it other than old damaged wooden boards and a lot of silence. Upon noticing a stairway going up, Chunhua volunteered to examine an abandoned office room at the top while Charlie searched an empty workroom on the bottom floor.

The moment Chunhua entered the office room, she found a picture of the office's former owner, Tony Vito, on the wall and samples of drugs on the floor.

"Cocaine, marijuana," she clarified. "But I'm not sure it's enough to nail Vito."

As Chunhua continued to study the drugs, an unknown figure silently approached her from behind.

Back inside of the workroom on the bottom floor, Charlie used a flashlight to search all around the dark corners of the room, but found nothing. However, before he could call it quits, he smelled something burning and saw smoke coming from an office room on his left-hand side. The cautious detective slowly entered the room and found a pile of recently burnt paper on the floor.

"Someone left in a hurry," the sleuth thought to himself. "And for someone to just suddenly burn them clearly means they were still using this building even after it went out of business."

Charlie Chan soon saw one sheet of paper that hasn't been completely burned yet. Upon reading what was on it, he quickly became startled and ran out of the room.

"Chunhua!" Charlie shouted upstairs to the office room. "Chunhua! We must go!"

There was no response.

"Chunhua!" Charlie rushed up to the room to get his wife. Unfortunately, when he entered the office room, Chunhua was nowhere in sight.


	4. The Birth of One and The Loss of Another

**Chapter 4: The Birth of One and The Loss of Another**

Two days later, Charlie Chan had just went inside of another abandoned building on a different side of town. The room he entered was as dark as it was large, but the detective was anything but frightened of the eerie surroundings.

"Vito?" Charlie called. "Tony Vito? I know you're in here."

All of a sudden, lights were turned on and the ingenious detective was surrounded by a large group of thugs with chains and bats. Among the hoodlums was a long-haired man in a trench coat, wearing glasses. He approached Charlie while smoking a cigar.

"Very clever, Chan," the man complimented. "I must say I'm surprised to see you here. My sources told me you were heading for my other condemned building in Albany."

"I'm in no mood for your pointless taunting, Vito," the angered Charlie demanded. "Return my wife to me this instant."

The evil drug dealer snapped his finger, signaling his boys. Two of his men dragged in Chunhua, without her coat, by her arms. Charlie was horrified. His poor wife had been badly bruised and beaten to near death.

After she was thrown to the floor, Charlie rushed to his weakened soul mate. "What have you done to her?" he furiously asked.

"Well," Tony Vito smirked, "I intentionally meant for her to be bait to capture both you and her, but then I had a change of heart and decided to make her my new bride instead. Sadly, she didn't like my idea too well, and so I decided she needed to be punished. But don't fret, Chan. I'm a generous soul, so I'll slip you both in a nice pair of cement shoes and let you go free…in the Hudson River."

"You're too kind," Charlie sarcastically replied. "But I'm afraid I'll have to turn down your offer."

At that very moment, an army of policemen burst in and pointed their guns at Vito and his gang, forcing them to surrender.

Within several minutes, all of the drug dealers were arrested and being loaded inside of the police vans while the unconscious Chunhua Chan was being placed inside of an ambulance truck and taken away.

A police sergeant came up to the saddened Chan. "Mr. Chan," he apologized, "I can't tell you how truly sorry I am about your wife. I just don't know what to say."

"But I do, Sergeant Barnwell." Charlie calmly faced the sergeant and ordered, "Officers, arrest him!"

In an instant, two officers grabbed the sergeant. "Chan," Barnwell panicked, "what's the meaning of this?"

"It is obvious, Barnwell," the intelligent detective explained. "Every time we have attempted to apprehend Vito at his hideouts, he has always eluded us. After examining the building on Cornell Street, I could tell that Vito and his men evacuated at least an hour before we arrived. It was obvious someone was tipping him off, meaning there was a leak in the police department. And I talked to several policemen after Chunhua disappeared. Only two officers knew my wife and I were investigating Vito's condemned Cornell building, you and the police lieutenant. Also, I purposely informed you I was heading towards the old building in the capital city, Albany, so Tony would remove his illegal merchandise there and bring them here, where I knew he was currently hiding out."

The police lieutenant walked up to Chan carrying a box. "And here's the merchandise here. Heroin, cocaine, cannabis, and every other drug you can think of."

"But that doesn't prove I'm involved!" Sergeant Barnwell denied.

To prove otherwise, Charlie Chan pulled out a half-burnt sheet of paper. "I'm afraid _this_ does, Sergeant," Charlie denounced. "Fortunately for me, Vito's men didn't succeed in completely burning all of their paperwork in the Cornell warehouse. On this paper is a list of the drugs Tony was selling and the men who were selling them. Among this list is the name Barnwell. Ralph Barnwell."

With that, the treacherous officer was taken away as Charlie walked towards his car to leave.

He entered his vehicle and as he drove off, he prayed, "Please, be okay, my dear Chunhua."

Over three hours later, Charlie Chan sat in the waiting room of a building known as the Rose Hospital. With him were his nine children, all of whom were terribly worried for their injured mother.

Suddenly, a nurse came from an operating room carrying something wrapped in her arms. "Mr. Chan?" she called. "Mr. Charlie Chan? May I have a word with you?"

Charlie, whom was holding his one-year-old daughter in his arms, stood up from his seat. "Certainly. Suzie, hold Mimi, please."

"Sure, Pop," Suzie said as she took her baby sister.

Charlie walked towards the nurse and the kind-hearted woman handed to him a wrapped-up newborn baby.

"Congratulations, Mr. Chan," she smiled. "I am happy to say your wife, despite her condition, was able to give birth to a beautiful baby boy. She named him Scooter. Scooter Chan."

Charlie awed his new son, but despite this wonderful news, something else quickly concerned him. "And how _is_ my wife?" he asked. "Will she be all right?"

The nurse's smile quickly turned into a frown. "Mr. Chan, I'm sorry," she lamented, "but there's something I must inform you."


	5. A New Life In California

**Chapter 5: A New Life In California**

Tragically, the loving Chunhua Chan did not survive and died from her severe injuries minutes after giving birth to her baby, Scooter.

A week after her death, many attended her funeral at the New York Marble Cemetery. Charlie Chan and his children watched with great sadness as Chunhua was being put to rest.

"Flip?" Little Nancy tugged on her older brother's arm. "Flip, where Mommy going?"

A mournful Flip sniffled, "Mom's going away, Nance, and she's never comin' back."

Hearing this caused tears to run down his sister's cheeks. "Never?" Nancy cried. "Mommy's _never_ coming back?"

The two comforted each other with a hug as rain clouds emerged. When it began to pour down raining, the Chans entered their limo to head for home.

As they drove off, Anne looked at an orange baseball cap that was given to her before the funeral. On it there was a tag that read, "Happy Birthday, Anne. From Mom." Anne, sadly, was having anything but a happy birthday.

A month slowly passed and the Chan children were still having a hard time coping with the loss of their mother. Everything reminded them of her and saddened them.

Eventually, their father felt a change of scenery was what his children needed. He decided the family had to move. A week later, the family arrived not in a new city, but in a new state. They had all moved to the state of California to live in a large, beautiful house.

"This is our new house?" young Henry asked as he got out of the moving truck.

"Not bad," Stanley joked. "Does it have a Jacuzzi? Heh-heh-heh!"

"Why did you pick up that 101 joke book on the way here?" his older brother groaned. Henry then walked back to the truck and picked up the baby carrier seat holding his infant brother.

"I got Scooter," he informed. "Need help with Mimi, Suzie?"

His eldest younger sister came out of the truck carrying Mimi. "No thanks," Suzie assured. "I got her." Alan, Anne, and Tom came out of the truck. Flip soon followed and helped Nancy out of the truck.

"So this is our new digs, huh?" Flip shrugged. "Not bad."

As her seven older siblings gazed upon their new home, a hungry Nancy saw a bush covered with blueberries on her left and walked towards it. However, before she could get a foot close to the bush, she tripped over a pile of leaves. As she picked herself up, she attempted to continue her journey, but something hidden under the leaves caught her attention.

Her siblings soon heard the sound of Nancy giggling. As they looked her way and saw her sitting on the ground with her back turned towards them, they mistook her laughter for crying and walked over.

"Nancy," a concerned Suzie asked, "are you okay? Did you fall and hurt yourself again?"

Nancy turned around and her siblings gasped as they saw what their little sister was holding. In Nancy's arms was a puppy! "Doggy! Doggy!" she gurgled.

"A dog!" Stanley exclaimed.

"Good, Stanley," Henry deadpanned. "You got it on the first go."

"I wonder who he belongs to," Anne pondered.

"I don't think he belongs to anyone," Suzie commented. "Look. He doesn't have a collar."

"Hey," Stanley suggested, "why don't we keep him?"

"I don't know," Henry doubted. "I don't think Pop would let us."

"Let you what?" a familiar voice asked.

The Chan children turned and saw their father coming towards them. "What is that Nancy is holding?" he questioned.

Tom pulled out an animal book, read it, and replied, "Look, Pop. We found a Canis lupus."

"We found a what?" Stanley asked.

Nancy held up the puppy and again gurgled, "Doggy! Doggy!"

"A that," Alan answered his second eldest brother and sibling.

"I see," Charlie observed. "It appears you've found a stray Pekingese puppy."

"Can we keep him, Pop?" Suzie pleaded. "He's just a poor puppy who's all alone."

Believing this was needed to lift his children's spirits, Charlie nodded, "I don't see why not."

"Yay! Thanks, Pop!" The eight kids happily cheered. This news even put a smile on the faces of the babies, Mimi and Scooter.

The new puppy barked happily, showing he, too, was delighted. He was also hungry. He leapt from Nancy's arms and started chewing on some of the berries on the bush. As Nancy picked him back up, she bubbled, "Look, Pop! Doggy chew! Chew! Chew!"

"Hey," Suzie gushed, "that's not a bad idea. How about we call him Chu-Chu?"

"Works for me," Henry approved.

The rest of his siblings all nodded in agreement.

"Come on, Chu-Chu," beamed Nancy as she carried their new puppy. "Let's go home."

Charlie Chan watched as his children all headed to their new home. "Their first smile in over a month," he happily said to himself.


	6. The Chan Clan

**Chapter 6: The Chan Clan**

Six years passed. The Chan family lived a fine life in the state of California. One day, inside of a tree of Redwood Tree Park in the middle of the afternoon, Henry and Stanley, now in their late teens, sat on a branch.

On the two brothers' wrists were new, handmade communicators. "Unit 1 to Unit 2," Henry said into his communicator. "Come in, Unit 2. Report your position."

Elsewhere, near a construction site, the teenaged Suzie, Alan, Anne, and Tom, were watching the construction workers. Anne, now with shorter hair, wearing her orange baseball cap, and no longer wearing her bracelet, responded to Henry with her communicator, "This is Unit 2. At the construction site on Tallahassee Avenue, watching them build the new bank."

"Roger," said Henry. "Unit 1 to Unit 3. Report your position."

Back at the family's house, the preteens, Flip, Nancy, Mimi, and Scooter along with their now older dog, Chu-Chu, were on the roof, looking through binoculars.

Flip, now wearing a pork pie hat, said into his communicator, "Unit 3 here. We're home, scoping out the neighborhood. All is quiet."

"Yeah," Scooter repeated, "all is quiet."

"Scooter Chan," Mimi scolded, "didn't I tell you to stay off of here? You're much too young to be climbing roofs."

"Boy," her little brother complained, "I just turned six yesterday and you're still telling me what to do."

"Will you two knock it off?" Flip demanded. "Jeez, ever since you started talking, you two have done nothing but argue."

A siren was suddenly heard.

"What was that?" a startled Nancy panicked. "An ambulance?"

"Nah," Scooter pointed next to him. "It was just Chu-Chu."

It was indeed their little Pekingese, whom was now wearing a collar, making the sound of a police siren to alert his young owners.

"Boy, I still can't get over it," Nancy shook her head. "A dog that can make sound effects."

"Yeah," Flip snickered. "Anyway, what's up, Chu-Chu?"

Chu-Chu pointed to his far right. The children looked through their binoculars in the said direction and saw their father driving on his way back home.

"Oh, boy!" Flip quickly spoke into his communicator. "Come in, Unit 1. Come in, Unit 2. Pop is on his way home. He's at least ten minutes away."

"Roger," Henry replied. "I'll get the others and head back."

Back at the park, Henry and Stanley leapt out of their tree and raced towards a large van they now owned. Once inside the vehicle, they drove off to the construction site to pick up their four middle siblings.

While enjoying the ride home, Anne admired her communicator. "First you make the Chan Van, now these…uh…uh…" She looked at Alan, whom was now wearing pink sunglasses to match his '70s outfit. "What do you call them again?"

"Chan Coms," her brother answered.

"Yeah, that," Anne continued. "Pretty neat, bro."

"Indeed," Tom agreed. "These devices are most exemplary as well as very commendable."

"They're what?" his eldest sister asked.

"He said they're good, Suzie," Alan translated.

"Yeah, and we're home," Henry told his siblings. He quickly parked in the driveway and the six children met up with their four youngest siblings and Chu-Chu on the lawn.

"Just in time," Nancy smiled.

"I'll say," Stanley pointed. "Here comes Pop now."

At that moment, Charlie Chan pulled into the driveway behind the Chan Van. The second he was out of his car, he was greeted by his ten children.

"Hi, Pop," Suzie welcomed. "So, how was that diamond smuggling case in San Jose?"

"It was complicated, but a success," Charlie sighed. "The diamond smugglers have been apprehended."

"Wow!" marveled Nancy. "You actually caught them?"

"Why are you surprised?" a proud Scooter praised. "Pop's the greatest detective in the world."

Charlie turned his head towards the Chan Van. "And how was your drive around town?" he grinned.

"Hey, how did you know we went out?" Stanley asked.

"Well," the keen-eyed detective deduced, "I'm pretty certain those wet tire tracks from the Chan Van weren't here when I left earlier."

Henry face palmed, "Ugh! I knew I shouldn't have drove through that puddle of water."

"Aw, come on, Pop," appealed Alan. "We were just giving my new Chan Coms a test run."

"Yeah," Stanley added, "they work great. They should come in handy when we go on our first case."

"Now, Stanley," his father forbade, "we've been over this. Detective work is much too dangerous. None of you are to be involved in it."

"Oh, come on, Pop," Flip objected. "We can handle it. We're old enough to come along and help with a caper."

"Yeah," Mimi said before looking at Scooter. "Well, _some_ of us are old enough to go. One of us is one year too young."

As Scooter blew a raspberry at his older sister, Charlie walked towards their house and concluded, "Sorry, children. Case closed. Now I suggest you worry about more important things, like your sister's birthday."

As their father entered the house, Mimi remembered, "Oh, that's right! Anne's birthday is coming. What do you want for your birthday, Anne?"

"The same thing I wanted last year, Mimi," Anne murmured as she walked to the front door. "Absolutely nothing."

Once their sister was inside, Scooter wondered, "Boy, she's like this every year. What's Anne's big deal with birthdays anyway?"

"You can't really blame her, Scooter," Suzie lamented. "Mom's funeral was held on her birthday. So it reminds her it was the last time she saw her."

Chu-Chu whimpered in despair upon hearing this. "Oh," Scooter frowned, "but she can't hate her birthday forever, right?"

"I hope not, Scooter," Suzie sadly sighed.

"Well, hey," Henry spoke up, "it's getting late. It's time for the Chan Clan to start practicing. That'll liven things up."

"I'm hip with that," smiled Alan.

"Me too," Suzie nodded.

"We all are," Stanley grinned.

Everyone headed inside the house. Before he walked in, Flip stopped and cringed in disgust, "'Chan Clan'. Yech! What a name."


	7. A New Case

**Chapter 7: A New Case**

Several minutes later, five of the Chan children got together to form a band they called the Chan Clan Band. Henry played the drums, Stanley played the guitar, Suzie played two tambourines, Alan played an oboe, and Tom played the trombone. Together they performed the Beach Boys' song, "_I Get Around_", in their living room. Once finished, they were applauded by their father, Anne, and their four youngest siblings.

"Nicely done, children," Charlie complimented.

"Thanks, Pop," said Henry.

"Hey, Anne," Suzie requested, "why don't you join us? You've taken music classes, so you know how to play."

Anne shook her head. "Nah. I would, but I don't have an instrument yet."

"You could share a tambourine with me again," her elder sister offered.

"No thanks," Anne declined. "Tambourines are fun, but I'm more of a fan of guitars. I'm hoping to raise enough to get my own someday."

"I don't think a guitar is suitable for one of the female gender," Tom disagreed.

"Yeah," Alan smirked. "How about a flute, a clarinet, or a cute piccolo? That's more suited for a girl."

"Says who?!" the feminist tomboy snapped.

Before an argument could break out, the doorbell rung. "Please, children, no quarreling," Charlie sighed as he got up from his seat. "We have a guest."

Stanley put down his guitar. "Oh, I'll answer it, Pop," he insisted. Before opening the door, Stanley put on a large panda bear costume. "Hee-hee!" he snickered. "Boy, will I shock this guy."

Stanley opened the door and there stood a police officer. "Welcome. Welcome," he said to him.

"Oh, hi, Stanley," the officer greeted. "May I speak to your father, please?"

"He's over there," Stanley sighed sadly as he pointed to his father. As the policeman walked over to Charlie, Stanley took off his panda mask. "How did he know it was me?" he asked himself.

"Mr. Chan," the officer requested, "you remember me. I am Officer Dale from the Independence Police Department. I apologize for disturbing you after you just returned home from the diamond smuggling case, but we desperately need your help."

"I understand," said Charlie. "Children, would you please excuse us?"

"Aw, Pop," griped Scooter. "Why can't we listen?"

"Scooter, don't argue with Pop," yapped Mimi. "Just do what you are told."

"You better quit nagging me when _I_ turn seven," stormed Scooter.

"Come on, everyone," Suzie offered. "I'll find some snacks for us."

"Oh, boy!" the ever-hungry Nancy bubbled.

The Clan left the living room and entered the kitchen while Chu-Chu stayed and sat under the table.

Charlie sat down on the couch with Officer Dale and asked, "Now what seems to be the problem, Officer?"

The concerned policeman replied, "Well, in our city, many people have gone missing in the last two months."

Office Dale then gave Chan several sheets of papers and continued, "Here's a list of the folks who have disappeared as well as their pictures. The photos themselves should show you the connection they all have."

Charlie looked at the pictures and acknowledged, "Yes. They're all Chinese."

"Most of them are Chinese-Americans, really," Dale further explained. "And some were Chinese tourists visiting the state. We've examined the homes of the Chinese-Americans and found no signs of a struggle, meaning they weren't kidnapped. We've also checked the hotels where the Chinese tourists were staying and according to the surveillance cameras, they all left the hotel of their own free while, _without_ their suitcases and other belongings."

Charlie rubbed his chin. "That is strange. Strange indeed. I will leave for Independence within a few hours, Officer Dale. I don't know how long I will be there, so have hotel reservations made for me. And make sure it's one of the hotels where a tourist went missing."

"Understood, Mr. Chan," Office Dale shook Charlie's hand. "And thanks again."

As the officer left the Chans' home, Charlie entered the kitchen, followed by Chu-Chu, and found his children all sitting innocently at the dining table, eating snacks.

"Oh, hi, Pop," Stanley grinned. "Wanna graham cracker?"

"No need to pretend, Stanley," Charlie figured. "I know you've all been eavesdropping, as usual." The sharp-eyed detective pointed to the beloved family pet and added, "Thanks to Chu-Chu…and the new Chan Com on his paw."

The children all chuckled nervously, knowing their father had found them out yet again.

"Aw, come on, Pop," the eager Flip insisted. "A missing people case? You're definitely gonna need some help. Let us come along!"

"Flip is right, Pop," Henry agreed. "This could be dangerous."

"That's exactly why none of you are going," Charlie refused. "Now I must pack for my trip to Independence. Once I am there, I will call once every three hours to check on everyone. Henry, as always, you are in charge while I am gone. Watch your siblings the best you can."

Though not comfortable with his father's decision to go without them, the eldest Chan child and son nodded, "Yes, Pop."

With all said and done, Charlie Chan went upstairs to pack for his trip.


	8. The Missing Father

**Chapter 8: The Missing Father**

Hours later, Charlie Chan had left for his new job assignment in Independence. As promised, he called three hours later, checking on his family before everyone went to bed.

The next day came and after having breakfast, the children waited for a call from their father, but heard nothing for the entire morning. Hours passed, the evening came, and they received no phone call from Charlie. Though bothered, the Clan felt that just meant their father was incredibly busy and decided not to worry. However, when two more days passed and there was still no phone call, it was obvious something was amiss.

That evening, the ten children sat quietly together in the living room. Seeing the concerned look on the faces of his younger siblings, Henry finally spoke, "Alright, what's everybody thinking?"

While brushing Mimi's hair, Suzie replied, "I think that's pretty obvious."

"Oh, come on!" Flip demanded. "We've waited long enough. Pop's definitely in trouble. We can't just sit here any longer. We gotta go out there and help him!"

"Yeah!" an enthusiastic Scooter agreed. "Flip's right! We gotta go out there and help him!"

"I'm starting to agree with Flip here, Henry," Anne concurred. "After three days with no word, I'd say it's pretty clear something's wrong. I think we should do something now and _not_ wait 'til we see Pop's picture in the papers."

"But, Anne, we might miss your birthday," Stanley pointed out.

Anne immediately smiled, "All the more reason we should do it!"

"Not that I disagree with anyone," Henry disputed, "we can't. Pop told us not to come there. Besides, for all we know, he's probably fine and us coming there would probably mess up whatever he has planned."

Flip argued, "But we'll never know unless we go out there and check up on Pop, just to make sure he's all cool."

"Even if we did drive all the way out to Independence, where would we start looking once we get there?" Henry debated. "We don't even know what hotel Pop was staying at."

"Perhaps we should be perturbed about that hindrance once we encounter it," Tom suggested.

Scooter was puzzled by what his brainy, older brother just said. "Huh?"

"He said we should burn that bridge when we get to it," Alan translated.

Failing to understand that expression, Scooter naively stated, "But we don't want to burn a bridge. We wanna find Pop."

An annoyed Mimi rolled her eyes. "Oh, you're too young to understand, Scooter."

"Sorry," concluded Henry, "but we just can't. Subject closed."

"Yeah," sighed Suzie. "Henry's right. We gotta do what Pop says. Like it or not."

"Thank you," Henry said as he started to exit the living room. "Stanley, come on. It's time for us to lock up the house."

Stanley followed his older brother out. "Uh, Henry," he questioned, "are you sure about this? What if Pop does need help? Ain't there something we can do?"

"Shh!" hushed Henry. "We _are_ gonna do something."

"We are?" Stanley whispered. "What?"

"I'll tell you tonight when everyone's asleep," Henry replied. "Now let's lock up everything."

Late that night, after midnight, Stanley crept downstairs to meet his brother.

"Are they asleep?" Henry asked.

"Yeah," Stanley nodded. "I peeked in the rooms. They're bundled up. So, what are we gonna do?"

"We're gonna head to Independence," said Henry.

"Oh," Stanley smiled, then gasped upon realizing what his eldest sibling just said. "We're _WHAT_?!"

"Shh! Quiet, you dum-dum!" Henry sibilated. "Now, I've left a note for the others. Let's get to the Chan Van."

The two brothers quietly entered the Chan Van and drove off, heading for the city, Independence. Unbeknown to the two boys, a man with a mustache watched their every move from his car.

After several minutes, with Henry driving, Stanley suddenly asked, "Uh, just curious here, but why didn't you tell the others we were going to do this earlier?"

"You know this is a serious case Pop is on," Henry explained. "If we told the rest of the Clan, they would've wanted to come, too. As the two oldest, it's our job to keep them safe."

"Oh, yeah," Stanley understood. "I guess you're right."

After several more minutes on the road, a sneeze was suddenly heard.

"Gesundheit," said Henry.

"Thanks," Stanley said before quickly realizing something. "Wait a minute, I didn't sneeze. I thought that was you."

"Wasn't me," Henry shook his head.

Stanley turned around. "Ah," he guessed, "it was probably something under one of those blankets in the back seats."

"Oh." Henry calmly shrugged, but then stated, "Wait a second, what blankets? We didn't bring any blankets."

Looking through the rear-view mirror, Henry noticed two sheets of blankets, one in the second row of the van and the other in the third row. In the blanket furthest back, the furry head of Chu-Chu stuck out.

"Chu-Chu!" a surprised Henry yelped.

"Aw, Chu-Chu," the familiar voice of the youngest Chan child bleated. "First you sneeze, then you blow it by letting Henry see you."

"Bad dog, Chu-Chu," Mimi scolded as she and Scooter came out from under the blanket.

Chu-Chu whimpered apologetically and Flip and Nancy came out from under the blanket afterwards. "Hi, Henry. Hi, Stanley," Nancy waved to her two oldest siblings.

"Alright, everybody," Flip called out to his four hidden older siblings, "you might as well come out. The jig's up."

Suzie, Anne, Tom, and Alan came out from the blanket on the second row seat.

"Now I expected better from you, Suzie," Henry lectured.

"I was outvoted," his younger sister shamelessly shrugged.

"Okay," an irritated Henry asked, "now what are you all doing here?"

"We should be asking you two that," Alan countered.

"Now aren't you guys glad I had us camp in the Chan Van tonight?" Flip remarked. "I told you they'd try to sneak off without us."

"You're a genius, Flip," Anne complimented.

"Yeah," Scooter agreed. "What a brain, Flip!"

"Listen," Henry reasoned, "I get why you all want to come, but you shouldn't be here."

"Yeah, yeah, this case could be dangerous," Anne acknowledged. "Look, we get you're trying to be responsible, look out for us, and all that, but, lovely reminder: this is our pop, too. If he's in trouble, the whole Chan Clan should help, not just you two."

Realizing his tomboyish little sister was right, Henry admitted defeat. "Oh, okay, fine," he sighed. "We've already come this far, we might as well keep going."

The four middle and four youngest Chan kids cheered, "Hooray!"

Flip then quietly mumbled to himself, "'Chan Clan'. Yech!"

As the children continued to their destination, the mustached man followed them in his car.


	9. The Search Begins

**Chapter 9: The Search Begins**

The Chan Clan arrived inside of a park in Independence within a half an hour later. With it still being dark, the children decided to camp out inside of the van and wait until morning to begin the search for their father.

Hours soon passed, daylight hit their faces, and everyone awakened. After stopping at a Waffle House for breakfast, they decided to plan their next move.

"Well, we're at the bridge," Alan stated. "Time to start burning."

"Well," Henry suggested, "I guess our first step would be to find the hotel Pop was staying in before he disappeared."

"Why don't we go to a police station and ask if they know where Pop was staying? They did make the reservations for him," Nancy proposed.

"Nah, no good," Flip shook his head. "Odds are they won't tell us."

"Then I guess the best we can do is split up, check out every hotel we can find, and hope we get lucky," Anne implied.

"An excellent suggestion," Tom approved. He then pulled out three long sheets of paper. "Fortunately, I took the liberty of producing several diagrammatic representations of the area to make things more accessible."

"It would just kill you to speak English, wouldn't it?" fumed Anne.

"He said he made maps of the city to make things easier," Alan translated.

"Correct," Tom continued. "I've also circled all of the hotels for us to examine."

Henry and Flip each took a map while Tom held onto his.

"Alright," Henry instructed, "we'll split up and cover different parts of the city. Stanley and I will search east and west. Anne, your group will search south while Flip's group will search north. If anyone finds out something, contact the rest of us. We'll all meet up back here in an hour if we don't."

"Right!" his nine younger brothers and sisters nodded and headed off in their directions.

Before getting ready to leave, Stanley noticed an uncertain look on his brother's face. "Hey, what's up, Henry?" he asked.

Henry sighed heavily, "I just can't help but wonder what kind of big brother am I."

"Oh, come on, Henry," Stanley assured, "you're a great big brother."

"Am I?" his elder sibling doubted. "I'm supposed to be responsible for everyone. Keep everybody safe. Not only do I disobey Pop and come out here, but I let the rest of the Clan get involved and risk their necks looking for him."

"Henry, you didn't make them come," Stanley, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder, reassured, "They chose to come. Heh. You got Pop's cautious side, but the rest of us got Mom's stubborn streak."

Henry was able to put on a smile upon hearing this. "That's for sure," he chortled. "Well, let's get started. We…" Henry's smile immediately faded the moment he turned and saw his younger brother dressed as a police officer. "What's up with the cop costume?"

"Come on," said Stanley, "this is our first real case, remember? I gotta dress for the occasion."

"Ugh! Take that stupid disguise off and let's get going," Henry commanded. "You search east while I'll search west."

Stanley removed his costume and walked off. "Grouchbag," he murmured.

Elsewhere, the four middle children had located two different hotels further south of their starting point.

"Which one do we search first?" Suzie asked.

"We'll split up and search'em both at the same time," directed Anne. "Suzie, you and Alan search the Sunflower Hotel here. Tom and I'll go across the street and check out that Richard Nixon Hotel."

Before anyone could move, Tom happily pointed, "Hey, look!"

"What?" Anne looked left and right. "You see Pop?"

"No," Tom gazed at a truck. "I just saw someone with a caged Callipepla californica."

"A caged what?" puzzled Suzie.

"A California quail, the state bird," Alan replied.

"Look, genius," a miffed Anne rebuked, "we're here for Pop, not a sightseeing trip. Now let's start looking!"

The four kids split into pairs and parted ways.

After entering the Richard Nixon Hotel, Tom noticed a bellhop around Henry's age. "Perhaps, he could be of some assistance to us. You talk to the hotel waitress, Anne, while I have a man-to-man chat with that fine fellow."

While Anne went over to the waitress, Tom approached the bellhop. "Excuse me, kind sir," the well-mannered Chan son requested, "but I was hoping perhaps if you have seen my father. We, uh, got separated earlier today, and I was curious if he entered this premise."

"I don't know, kid," the young bellhop shrugged. "Who is your dad?"

"Oh, his name is Charlie Chan," Tom informed. "He's a famous detective."

"Detective?!" The bellhop was suddenly filled with rage. "My dad was a jewel thief," he exploded, "and was sentenced to life, so I hate policemen…_and_ detectives!"

Tom backed away nervously as the furious bellhop walked towards him. "Uh, wait," he gulped, "I-I'm wearing glasses. You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?"

The violent bellhop snatched off Tom's glasses. "Nice try," he scowled. However, before he could put any hurt on the young Chan, someone tapped on his shoulder.

The bellboy turned and found Anne standing next to him. "Alright, buster," the young tomboy growled, "did you, by any chance, take my brother's glasses?"

"Oh, another detective's kid, huh?" the bellhop retorted. "And what if I did?"

The defensive Anne stomped on the thuggish hotel porter's foot. As he hopped around in pain, he dropped Tom's glasses, which Anne swiftly caught. The bellhop soon ceased his jumping and lunged for Anne. "Why, you little…"

To his surprise, Anne quickly grabbed his arm and flipped him to the floor. "Girly," the bellboy quavered, "you've been taking karate lessons!"

"Black belt, creep!" Anne snarled. "Now beat it!"

The cowering hotel worker instantly got up and fled.

"Okay, I lied," Anne snickered, "I'm really a blue belt, but he didn't need to know that."

Right away, Anne gave Tom his glasses back. "We better not say a word about this to Henry, by the way," she recommended. "Anyway, I talked to the waitress and the guys at the front desk. Pop was never here. Let's try someplace else."

"Agreed," Tom said as he put his glasses back on. "And…uh…uh…"

Anne knew what her embarrassed younger brother was trying to say and merely walked off. "You're welcome," she said.

Meanwhile, further north, Flip, Nancy, Mimi, and Scooter had just exited a hotel.

"Boy," Flip groused, "that's the third hotel we've checked and still nothing. And according to the map, we just left the last hotel in this area."

While dining on a bag of peanuts she received from the recent hotel, Nancy said, "We might as well head back and hope the others had better luck."

"Yeah," Mimi sighed. The youngest Chan daughter looked around and noticed something missing. "Hey, where's Chu-Chu? I told him to wait here for us since the hotel doesn't allow pets."

"There he is!" Scooter exclaimed as he pointed across the street.

The kids saw their family pet staring at a costume shop. He seemed intrigued by the small Chinese dragon mask displayed in the window.

"Aw, Chu-Chu looks like he really likes that mask," Mimi gushed.

"Yeah, well, we'll probably buy him one when we get back home," an impatient Flip said before calling over to their dog. "Chu-Chu! Chu-Chu, get over here! We going now!"

Upon hearing his young owner, Chu-Chu barked gleefully and rushed over.

The four preteens started their journey back to the Chan Van. As they walked, Nancy noticed something behind the group.

"Uh, Flip," she nervously notified her brother, "I think someone's following us."

Flip, Mimi, Scooter, and Chu-Chu turned around and saw the mustached man trailing them.

"Hey," Nancy realized, "I've seen him before, back home."

"You have?" asked Mimi.

"Yeah," her older sister informed. "I've been seeing that guy watching our house a lot ever since Pop left. He sometimes follows me when I step out for ice cream."

"Hey, yeah! I've seen him before, too," Scooter added. "He was watching us last night and followed us in a car all the way here."

"Is that so?" Hearing this, Flip stopped his group and turned to face the suspicious figure.

The mustached man came up to the four. "I've finally caught up with you," he said.

"Who are you, mister?" Flip interrogated. "And why have you been following us?"

"Now, look, kid, I don't want any trouble," the man declared. "The name's Barnwell, Sergeant Barnwell of the Independence Police Department."

"Barnwell? Haven't I heard…?" Flip instantly remembered hearing this name and became greatly alarmed. "Yikes! Run for it!"

The children all ran for their lives. "Hey, hold it!" the man shouted. "Get back here!"

The mustached Barnwell chased after the four kids and their dog. After turning around a corner, he quickly lost sight of them. He continued his search by running straight ahead. Once he was long gone, the young Chans and Chu-Chu came out from hiding under a pickup truck.

"Who was that guy, Flip?" Scooter asked his leader. "Why did we run?"

"That guy was Sergeant Barnwell," Flip explained. "He was the dirtbag cop who was helping the scum who took out our mom."

"But that was back in New York," Nancy shuddered. "What's he doing here?"

"Don't know," Flip considered, "but I bet you anything he has something to do with Pop being missing. We better head back and tell the others."


	10. The Lead

**Chapter 10: The Lead**

Back at the Sunflower Hotel, Alan waited alone outside. Tom soon met up with his elder brother. "Where's Suzie?" he asked.

"She got a little sidetracked," Alan pointed across the street to a mall. Through the mall's window, the two brothers watched as their eldest sister enjoyed a friendly conversation with another teenaged Asian girl and purchased new clothes.

"Where's Anne?" Alan asked.

"She, too, is within a shopping establishment, purchasing some items," Tom answered.

"_Anne_ is shopping for dresses?" a surprised Alan asked.

"Not exactly," his younger brother corrected. "She's inside of a sports store purchasing a rope and a net. She believes it'll be necessary for apprehending our adversary, if we locate him."

Alan jokingly sighed, "Anne's not like other girls, is she?"

"Afraid not," Tom shook his head.

At that moment, Suzie approached her brothers with her friend. "Oh, hi, Tom. Sorry to keep you waiting, Alan. Oh, Tom, Alan, this is my new friend, Amelia. Amelia, these are my brothers, Alan and Tom."

"Hello," Alan and Tom greeted their sister's friend.

"Hey," Alan noted, "she's Chinese, too. Maybe she can help with the missing people caper."

Clearly bothered, the teenaged girl twitched angrily, but quickly calmed herself down. "Sorry, friend," Amelia corrected. "I'm Japanese, not Chinese."

"Oh, sorry," Alan apologized.

"Don't worry about it, Alan," Suzie waved it off. "I thought she was Chinese, too."

"Yeah," Amelia giggled, but quickly changed the subject. "But what's this about people being missing?" she asked.

Suzie explained to her friend, "Well, word has it that Chinese folks are going missing around here. To make matters worse, and don't tell anyone about this, but we think our father, Charlie Chan, is one of those missing folks."

The young Japanese gasped in shock, "_Your_ father is Charlie Chan, the world famous detective?"

"Yeah," Suzie sadly continued, "and we haven't heard a word from him in days."

"Maybe he's still at that hotel I saw him in," Amelia guessed.

Hearing this was just what Suzie and her brothers needed. "Hold it," Alan questioned. "You've seen him?"

"Yes," Amelia nodded. "I saw him a few days ago just northeast of here at the Pleasure Hotel. I was trying to apply for a job there."

"Oh, thanks so much, Amelia!" Suzie hugged her friend. "You have no idea what a big help that was!"

"Anything to help a friend," Amelia smiled before looking at her watch. "Oh, dear. I gotta go. I'm due someplace else. Bye, Suzie, good luck."

"Bye!" Suzie waved.

Seconds after Amelia walked off, she accidentally bumped into Anne, who was just returning to her siblings.

"Oh, sorry," Anne apologized.

"Ah, it's okay," Amelia forgave.

Before her friend could leave, Suzie introduced her to her sister, "Amelia, this is one of my little sisters, Anne. Anne, this is my new friend, Amelia."

"Hi," Anne waved to the older young girl before looking down. "Uh, hey, you dropped something."

Amelia looked down and quickly picked up her dropped item. "Oh, thanks," she said with such great relief. "Thanks so much. I can't replace this." The friendly girl then departed.

"Nice girl," Anne opined.

"Yeah," Alan said before noticing a backpack his sister was holding. "So, Anne, is the rope inside your new bag there?"

"Yep," Anne nodded. "I got two sets of rope and a net that might come in handy for either catching the bad guy or his henchmen."

"What henchmen?" asked Tom.

"I don't know," Anne theorized. "The crook might henchmen. I hear most low-lives do."

Alan noticed something else in the backpack and pulled it out. "And what are we gonna do with a couple of ice axes?" he inquired.

"Mountain climbing," Anne responded.

"You think we're going to have to climb a mountain?" Suzie asked.

"Nah," Anne answered, "but I might wanna go mountain climbing when this is all over. But enough about me. Did you or Alan find out anything?"

Suzie, with the greatest of pleasure, replied, "Well, not in the hotels, but we did have some luck." The eldest Chan daughter then spoke into her Chan Com. "Henry, pick us up at the Sunflower Hotel. We got a lead."


	11. The Car Chase

**Chapter 11: The Car Chase**

Several minutes later, the whole Chan Clan were back in the Chan Van, driving northeast. Suzie had briefed everyone on the information her friend had given her.

"She said the Pleasure Hotel?" Henry, while driving, asked.

Suzie nodded as she read a map, "Right. And according to the map, that's only ten minutes from where we are now."

"And, Flip," Henry further questioned, "you said you guys had a run-in with that corrupted cop, Sergeant Barnwell?"

"You got it," his second youngest brother assured.

Henry seemed a little bothered by what was told to him by his four youngest siblings. "Weird. I don't remember Pop mentioning that guy having a mustache, though."

Flip figured, "He probably grew one while he was in the slammer."

"Yeah, in the slammer," Scooter echoed.

Upon turning around and looking through the back window of the Chan Van, a frightened Nancy stammered, "U-U-Uh, and if you don't believe us, ask him yourself. He's r-r-r-right behind us!"

Everyone turned around and saw that their sister was right. Sergeant Barnwell was tailing after them in his car!

Attempting to lose their pursuer, Henry drove faster. He switched from the left lane to the right lane, then from the right lane to the left. Unfortunately, despite how many times he changed lanes and how many different streets he drove down, Barnwell stayed on their trail. Spotting a crowded parking lot straight ahead of them, Henry swiftly drove into it, hiding the van among the other cars. Having lost sight of the children, the persistent sergeant drove past the lot.

"Did we lose him?" asked Suzie.

Stanley looked through a pair of binoculars and gulped, "Not really. He just parked right across the street from the lot. I think he's waiting for us."

"How do we get out without him seeing us?" Mimi fretted.

Henry quickly came up with a solution. "Alan, didn't you say this van can turn into other vehicles?"

"Right on," his inventive brother confirmed. "Just hit one of those Chan Plan buttons on the controls there."

"Alright," Henry instructed Stanley, "let's try Chan Plan 17."

"Chan Plan 17, coming up," Stanley pressed the said button.

Within a flash, the Chan Van converted into a red, eight-wheeled dump truck with Henry and Stanley still in the front seats and their younger siblings now in the open-box bed with Chu-Chu.

"Everyone keep low, until I tell you to come out," Henry commanded. As told, his siblings all lowered themselves to stay out of sight.

"Stanley," Henry requested, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but now's the time for one of your stupid disguises."

"I thought you'd never ask," his brother grinned.

Within seconds, the Chan Clan drove up to the parking lot's exit with their disguised vehicle. Barnwell, upon seeing the red dump truck, did not recognize Henry and Stanley, whom were dressed as construction workers, wearing safety vests, hard hats, and fake mustaches. With Sergeant Barnwell successfully fooled, the Chans were able to drive off and slip away from him.


	12. The Fortune Teller

**Chapter 12: The Fortune Teller**

Minutes later, the Chan Clan arrived at the Pleasure Hotel, with their van converted back to its normal state and Henry and Stanley out of their costumes.

After exiting the Chan Van, they all entered the building. "So now what?" Stanley asked.

"We start asking questions about Pop, what else?" Flip encouraged.

"Yeah, what else?" Scooter agreed. The youngest Chan child quickly spotted a handicapped man. "I'll start by asking that old guy in the wheelchair."

"Scooter Chan," Mimi rebuked, "I've told you before you're much too young to be talking to strangers. I'll do it."

"You better quit bossing me all the time," her little brother bickered.

An elderly voice interrupted the argument between the two youngest Chans, "You will not find what you seek here."

The Clan turned to their right and found an old gypsy woman wearing a robe and a round, golden emerald dragon necklace around her neck, sitting in one of the hotel lobby's chairs with a crystal ball in her lap. "You children are in search of someone, but you will not find that person here," she said.

"And how do you know?" Flip questioned.

"I am Madam Lava," she told the young boy. "I see all and know all. You children are in search of someone. Your father. He's a detective. His name is Charlie Chan."

"Wow! She's right!" Scooter marveled.

Anne stared at Madam Lava's necklace and thought to herself, "Boy, that necklace sure looks familiar."

The young tomboy shrugged off her curiosity and stepped over to the front desk as the old fortune-telling gypsy continued, "You are Charlie Chan's children, Henry, Stanley, Suzie, Alan, Anne, Tom, Flip, Nancy, Mimi, and Scooter."

"Wow!" Nancy exclaimed. "She really does know everything!"

An impatient Flip, however, was less than impressed. "Yeah, yeah," he said, "so the lady told us our names. That's something we already knew. What we _don't_ know is where Pop is."

"Hey," Stanley suggested, "maybe Miss Lava here can tell us. Why don't we ask her?"

"As it kills me to admit it, Stanley, that's actually a good idea." Henry walked closer to the elderly woman. "Uh, Madam Lava, can you tell us where exactly our pop is?"

"I can try." Madame Lava stared into her crystal ball. "He's…He's…He's inside of the Marigold Mountain Inn, located within Mount Williamson."

"Oh, my," Tom said, looking at his map, "that's at least a good twenty minute drive from here."

"Oh, come on!" Flip dismissed. "Are we really gonna go for this?"

"Well, it's the only clue we have," Suzie reasoned. "We might as well check it out."

"Well, the fortune teller's right about one thing, Pop's not here," Anne notified her siblings as she returned to them. "I spoke to the front desk. The good news is that Pop was here. The bad news is he's not now. As we all know, he disappeared four days ago."

"At least we know we're on the right track," said Henry. "Let's check out this Marigold Inn place."

"Right!" his siblings again nodded in agreement and the Chan Clan left for the Chan Van.

Before leaving the hotel, Anne stopped and once again gazed upon Madam Lava's necklace. "Where have I seen that necklace before?" she again asked herself before continuing to the van.


	13. The Mysterious Inn

**Chapter 13: The Mysterious Inn**

Twenty minutes later, the Chan Clan found their way to the Marigold Mountain Inn. They arrived with their Chan Van, converted into a snowcat, covered with snow. It returned to normal once everyone exited.

"Who would've known we'd run into a snowstorm on the way?" puzzled Henry. "And at this time of year?"

"The climate in a large natural elevation area can be unpredictable," Tom commented.

"Yeah, _snow_ way we could've seen that coming. Heh-heh-heh!" Stanley laughed.

"The last thing I need to hear right now is snow jokes!" Henry groused. "Now come on."

As the children walked to the inn, Suzie noticed a large pink flag on the outside wall. The flag was outlined with beautiful pink fur. "Boy, something about that fur sure looks familiar."

Anne, still wearing her backpack, said, "Suzie, now's not the time to be thinking about fashion." The tomboyish sister then too got a good glimpse at the furry flag. "You know, you're right. There is something familiar about it."

"Yeah," Alan teased, "it reminds me of that pink tutu Suzie got you for your sixth birthday. Boy, did you hate it!"

An annoyed Anne scowled, "Why can't you think of anything better to do than torment me?"

"Oh, come on, Annie," her brother joked as he continued to the inn. "What are little sisters for?"

As she and Suzie followed, Anne shook her head. "He's never gonna stop calling me 'Annie', is he?"

Once inside, the Chan Clan observed the large inn. "This place is huge!" said Stanley. "Should we spread out and start looking for Pop?"

"To save ourselves the trouble, we should just ask the front desk if he's been here," Henry claimed.

The skeptical Flip disagreed, "We're probably just wasting our time. I still say that Lava lady sent us on a wild goose chase."

While Flip was expressing his doubts, Chu-Chu was sniffing the floor of the inn. The moment his young owner finished his sentence, the Pekingese caught the scent of something important and ran off barking.

"Chu-Chu!" Mimi called. "Where are you going? Come back here!"

With his ten owners following, Chu-Chu raced up the stairs to the third floor of the inn, ran down two different halls, and stopped at a door with a sign that read "Employees Only".

Mimi scolded her little dog the moment she caught up with him. "Chu-Chu, you naughty dog. You shouldn't run off like that."

Chu-Chu picked up a necktie he found on the floor and showed it to his owners.

"You had us run all the way up here so you could play with a dumb tie?" Flip growled. "Are you serious?"

"Hey, wait a minute," Henry grabbed the necktie and exclaimed. "This is Pop's tie! Look. His name is written on the tag in the back, in his handwriting."

"Hey, you're right!" Suzie noticed.

"Looks like Madam Lava was right after all," said Anne. "Pop must be here!"

With their hopes risen, the Chan Clan decided to start their search around the inn. However, before they could leave the hall, they heard a loud crash. Everyone turned around and found Nancy on the floor near a knocked-over bookshelf and a bowl of spilled fruit.

"Nancy," asked a worried Suzie, "what happened?"

"I'm sorry," her younger sister apologized. "I got hungry and tried to get this bowl of fruit off the top of the bookshelf, and it tipped over when I tried to climb it."

"Nance," Flip sighed, "can you worry about stuffing your face some other time? We got work to do. So let's…"

Before Flip could finish his sentence, young Scooter noticed something else. "Hey," he pointed out, "there's a big red button on the wall!"

Everyone looked and saw the mentioned red button inside of a clear case.

"Why would they have a button hiding behind a bookshelf like that?" asked Suzie.

"You got me," Alan shrugged.

The ever-curious Scooter opened the clear case. "I wonder what it does," he pondered.

"Scooter, no!" Mimi forbade. "Don't mess with anything you don't under-"

Ignoring his bossy older sister, Scooter pressed the button. The Clan then heard a beeping sound coming from the wall. Instantaneously, a door within the wall slid open, showing a secret entrance that lead further down a dark hallway.

"Boy, ain't this day full of surprises?" mumbled Anne.

The Clan, despite being unsure that they should, decided to enter the secret passage. Though before Scooter could walk in, he was stopped by Mimi. "Hold it," she insisted. "This is as far as you go, Scooter. This could be too dangerous for you. You're just a kid."

"You're a kid, too!" Scooter remarked.

"I'm seven and you're only six," Mimi deflected. "Now you just sit tight and wait for your elders."

Overhearing this argument, Flip interrupted and ordered, "Will you two knock it off and get in here?"

More than happy to, Scooter dashed right past Mimi and entered the secret entrance. His older sister followed him in. Alas, none of the kids noticed that a surveillance camera was watching them from the ceiling.

Once all were inside, Stanley asked, "So which way?"

The hidden door leading to the secret entrance instantly closed behind the children, causing Henry to answer, "I'm guessing straight ahead."

The Chans walked down the long hallway, which seemed rather endless. After over ten minutes of walking, Suzie panted, "How much longer? My feet are killing me."

"Don't ask me," Alan retorted. "I didn't build this place."

Tom deduced, "This might certainly explain why the inn is so large."

"Hey," Flip pointed, "there's another door up ahead."

The Chan Clan all saw the light coming from a door straight ahead of them. Among approaching it, they found themselves on the top floor of an enormous factory.

Referring to Tom's earlier statement, Alan confirmed, "This definitely explains why the inn is so huge."

"I wonder what kind of racket this is?" Flip pondered.

Nancy pointed below them. "Why don't we ask that man down there?"

The Clan looked beneath them and saw a Chinese man passing by on a walkway in a zombie-like state. They walked down to the walkway to question the stranger. Upon approaching him, Henry said, "Excuse me, sir, but could you…"

Without a word, the man just walked past the Chan Clan and to the factory floor below them.

"How rude of him!" Mimi huffed. "Ignoring us like that."

"I'm not sure he was ignoring us," Henry doubted. "Not on purpose, anyway."

"Yeah," Anne noted. "Didn't you see that look on his face? And his eyes, it's like he was in a trance or something."

"It's not just him," Scooter said as he pointed to the bottom floor. "Look. All those guys are like that."

The Chans looked below them and saw a room full of Chinese people. Some were cleaning up around the factory, others were just exercising. All of them were being watched by at least a dozen men, each wearing a wooden fox mask.

"Who are those guys wearing the scary masks?" a nervous Nancy quavered.

"I don't know about them," Henry clarified, "but I think the others are the missing Chinese folks."

"But I don't see Pop down there," said Stanley.

"Me neither," said Alan.

"Maybe we can't spot him from up here," the eldest Chan sibling suggested. "Let's get down there and start looking, but stay low. We don't want those masked characters seeing us."

His siblings nodded and the Clan entered a hallway that would take them to a stairway leading to the bottom floor. Before they could approach the stairway, Stanley looked through the window of one the factory office rooms and found something surprising. "Hey, look!" he yelled. "It's Pop!"

The whole Clan looked through the said window and saw their father bound and gagged in a chair. "Pop!" they all said with excitement.

Immediately, they opened the door of the room. After doing so, Chu-Chu took a quick whiff and felt something was wrong.

"Don't worry, Pop!" whooped Flip. "We'll have you sprung in no time."

Before any of the kids could enter the room, Chu-Chu ran in front of them, trying to prevent them from walking any further.

"Chu-Chu, what's the matter with you?" questioned Henry.

Chu-Chu waved his paws, shook his head, and barked, "Uh-uh! Uh-uh!"

"Chu-Chu, this is no time for playing," Mimi dismissed. "We gotta rescue Pop." The ten kids continued to their father.

In a desperate effort to warn his owners, Chu-Chu leaped for Charlie Chan…and went right through him!

"Did you see that?" gasped Nancy.

"Chu-Chu w-w-ent through Pop!" Mimi squealed.

"Is Pop a ghost?" Scooter asked.

Tom looked up and pointed, "Not necessarily. Look. There's a projector on the ceiling. The Pop we see before us is just a hologram."

All of a sudden, the floor opened up and the ten children and their dog all fell into a deep pit.


	14. The Deception

**Chapter 14: The Deception**

Upon hitting the bottom of the pit, Stanley groaned, "You know what? I think we fell into a trap."

Henry, rubbing his head, deadpanned, "And what was your first clue, Stanley?"

The Clan heard evil laughter coming from above them. Gazing up, they saw two of the masked men looking down on them.

"You goons won't be laughing when we find a way out of here," the eager Flip shook his fist.

"You tell them, Flip!" cheered Scooter.

"Uh, but, Flip," Nancy asked as a frightened Mimi clanged to her, "how _are_ we going to get out?"

The Chan Clan suddenly heard an old voice. "You'll get out of the pit, alright. But you won't get out this factory!" A familiar figure approached the pit from above. To their great shock, with the masked hoodlums…was Madam Lava!

The Chan Clan gasped, "Madam Lava!"

"You set us up!" Flip exclaimed.

"Correct, little boy," the wicked woman cackled. "However, I was planning on all of you spending the night at the inn after baiting you with your father's tie. That way, I could've snuck into your rooms and used my hypnotic dragon necklace here to turn you all into my new slaves later. Unfortunately, you young snoopers somehow got lucky and found my little hideout instead. But fortunately, for me, I have a thug working at every inn and hotel in the city to tip me off about my targets."

"What have you done with our pop?" Henry demanded to know.

The ruthless gypsy snapped her fingers, signaling her men. One of the masked men pressed a button on the wall to lower a monitor screen down into the pit. On the screen, the children saw their father among the brainwashed Chinese people working in the factory, much to their horror.

"You won't get away with this!" Flip hissed.

"Yeah," Scooter repeated, "you won't get away with this!"

"Is that a boy or a parrot?" Madam Lava mocked the youngest Chan. "Anyway, don't feel neglected, children. You'll soon be joining your father and all my other slaves."

As the monitor rose back up out of the pit, Suzie asked the evil gypsy, "Why are you doing this?"

"Well, a good, obedient worker is so hard to find these days," Madam Lava explained her motive. "And I know countless people all over the world who'd pay great money for soldiers and workers who would do what they're told without question. Now, I got some deals to close and when I return, you lucky kids will become my newest employees."

The cold-hearted woman left the room with her two henchmen, laughing cruelly at the trapped Chan children.

"I hate to say it," said Stanley, "but, wham bam! We're in a jam."


	15. Escape the Pit

**Chapter 15: Escape the Pit**

The ten children and Chu-Chu all sat around the pit, feeling completely discouraged. They were captured, their father was hypnotized, and they, along with many others, were about to be sold off as mindless workers very soon. There appeared to be no hope.

"Boy," Flip sighed, "we really blew it, huh? Our first case, our big chance to prove ourselves to Pop, and we botched it."

"No one's perfect, Flip," Scooter comforted his older brother.

Henry stared endlessly at the top of the pit. "If we could just figure out how to get out of this hole, I'm sure we'd be able to find some way to stop Lava before it's too late."

"But how _can_ we get out?" Nancy again asked.

"It's too bad we're not like spiders," said Scooter. "Then we could just climb the walls to get out."

"Oh, Scooter," Mimi, still clinging to Nancy, chided, "what a childish thing to say."

Anne, however, thought differently about Scooter's words. "Wait," she said to her youngest brother, "say that again."

Scooter repeated, "Uh, if we were like spiders, we could just climb the walls to get out?"

"That's it!" beamed Anne. "That's how we'll get out!"

"We're going to turn into spiders?" a confused Scooter asked.

Anne grabbed her backpack. "No, but we're gonna climb out…with these." Anne pulled out the ice axes she purchased earlier. "I'll just stick these into the wall and make like a mountain climber."

"Uh, Anne," Alan protested, "maybe you should let one of us guys do it."

"Agreed," Tom concurred as he confiscated Anne's axes. "This could be complicated."

"Uh, who did better at wall climbing in gym class, me or you?" his older sister argued.

Though the answer was obvious, Tom still objected, "Anne, still, this is no job for a girl."

Anne snatched back her axes and snapped, "Girl or no girl, someone's gotta get us out, and like it or not, that someone's me!"

Immediately, the stubborn tomboy stuck the axes into the wall one at a time, and slowly but surely, started climbing up the wall. With strong will and determination, Anne was able to successfully climb to the top and out of the pit!

Her siblings all cheered in great delight.

"Uh," Stanley stopped cheering upon realizing something, "but how are the rest of us gonna get out?"

Just then, Anne tossed one end of the rope she purchased with the axes down to her siblings and tied the other end to a doorknob, answering her brother's question. With Scooter riding Flip's back and Mimi carrying Chu-Chu while riding on Tom's back, the rest of the Clan climbed up and out of the pit.

The moment he got out, Alan complimented, "Way to go, Annie. Mom would've been proud." Anne responded with a heartwarming smile.

"So now what do we do?" asked Suzie.

"Well, I'm not sure how," Henry answered, "but to put a stop to all this, we gotta catch that back-stabbing gypsy."

"That will definitely be quite problematic," Tom stated. "Particularly with all of her muscular thugs aiding her."

With his confidence returned, Flip, finally excepting the group's name, encouraged, "We'll think of something. We're the Chan Clan after all. We can do it, right, Scooter?"

"You bet…Chief!" Scooter proudly agreed.

"Then let's do it!" Henry smiled.

With that, the kids said together, "Let's go! Chan Clan to the rescue!"


	16. Madam Lava's Defeat

**Chapter 16: Madam Lava's Defeat**

Within the factory, Madam Lava, while holding her golden dragon necklace, was commanding the Chinese servants who were exercising to cease their workout.

"Miss Lava," one of the masked henchmen asked, "why are we having some of them exercise anyway?"

Madam Lava replied, "The ones working out are the ones that will be sold off as soldiers, and the buyers who want them wish for them to be in excellent shape." While waving her hypnotic necklace, the gypsy ordered, "Okay, my servants, line up over there for your uniforms."

"Yes, Master," the hypnotized workers said as they walked over to a corner.

Unbeknownst to Madam Lava, the Chan Clan were watching from a walkway directly above her.

"Wow," Alan clarified, "she really is hypnotizing them."

"If we could get that necklace from her, she won't be able to control them anymore," Henry reckoned.

Anne once again asked herself, "Where _have_ I seen that necklace?"

"But how do we get it?" Stanley asked his elder brother.

After looking at Anne's backpack, Henry instantly came up with a plan. "I got it! It's risky, but it might work. Chu-Chu, get down there and distract the goons. After that, get Lava into a corner."

Chu-Chu barked and headed down to the bottom floor. While hiding behind a large wooden crate, the clever Pekingese imitated a loud train horn.

"What was that?" asked one of the masked fiends.

"Probably just a train going by," one of his accomplices guessed. "There is an old underground subway station right below the factory after all."

Madam Lava was about to agree, but quickly remembered, "Wait a moment. That old station has been out of business for decades now. I don't like it. Go find out what it really is." As told, the masked men all went inside of an elevator and left the room to investigate the strange sound.

With the nefarious woman left alone, Chu-Chu came out of hiding and charged at Madam Lava barking.

"A dog?!" Lava squealed. "What's a dog doing here? I hate dogs!" Terrified, Madam Lava, despite her age, ran in fear around the factory with Chu-Chu chasing after her.

The Chan Clan watched the whole chase from above. "Boy," Stanley noticed, "she moves pretty fast for an old bat, huh?"

Henry agreed, "I'll say."

Eventually, Chu-Chu chased the gypsy woman into a corner, having her quavering in fear, covering her eyes.

"Perfect," Henry smiled. "Right where I want her."

The Chan Clan leader then grabbed one of Anne's ropes and explained, "Now for Step 2. I need to tie this rope around someone, then lower him down so he can grab the necklace. So who's the lucky candidate?"

Raising his hand, Scooter volunteered, "I'll do it!"

"Absolutely not, Scooter," Mimi forbade. "You could get hurt."

"No way," her little brother bickered. "Henry will be holding the rope. I'll be fine."

With her hands on her hips, Mimi refused, "I still say you're much too young this. Remember, you're just a child."

Remembering Anne's words to Tom earlier, Scooter, having had enough of his sister's bossiness, snapped, "Child or no child, someone's gotta get that necklace, and like it or not, that someone's me!"

"That's the Chan spirit, Scooter," a proud Flip agreed. "Now let's get crackin'."

Once the rope was wrapped around Scooter's waist, he was slowly lowered down above the petrified gypsy.

Just then, one of the henchmen returned. "Madam Lava!" he shouted. "Look out! Above you!"

Unfortunately for the hired thug, he was too late. Scooter was lowered just enough to snatch Madam Lava's necklace right off. "I got it! I got it!" he exclaimed. With that, Henry immediately pulled his youngest sibling up and Chu-Chu ran back up to join his owners.

"It's those Chan brats!" Madam Lava screamed. "Get them! Don't let them get away!"

"Now what?" Stanley fretted.

"What else?" Henry replied. "We run for it!"

The Chan Clan rapidly ran into the factory's hallway and up the stairs to another floor, entering another hallway. "We gotta find a way out of here!" said Henry.

At that moment, the largest and most muscular of the masked men appeared in front of the Chan Clan leader. "Stanley, this is no time for jokes! Lose that stupid disguise and…"

Alan then tapped on his big brother's shoulder. "Uh, Henry…"

Once he had turned around, Alan showed Henry that Stanley was still right behind him. Realizing that the masked person in front of him was one of the thugs and not his younger brother in disguise, Henry gulped, "Oh, boy."

To make things worse, the rest of the masked hoodlums appeared from behind the muscular one.

"Scatter!" Henry commanded.

Obeying their brother, the Chan Clan ran off and split into three different directions in the halls. The henchmen divided up and went after each group.

On the bottom floor of the factory, Madam Lava was long gone and the four middle Chan children entered. Knowing the villains were right behind, Anne shouted, "Split up!"

Anne and Tom ran in one direction while Suzie and Alan ran another.

Instantly, four of the masked men arrived on the bottom floor. To cover more ground, they, too, decided to split up into pairs to look for the four teens.

While searching, two suddenly heard someone whistle to them. They looked over and found Anne standing by a steel wall, waving to them. They immediately ran towards her, but before they could grab her, a large horseshoe magnet came out of nowhere and pinned them to the steel wall. The magnet was revealed to have been tossed by Tom. He and Anne shook hands to congratulate each other.

On the other side of the bottom floor, the other two men were still searching. They eventually found Suzie hiding behind a couple of barrels. However, before they could seize her, they were grabbed by Alan, using a grasping claw from a bulldozer he found to lift them into the air.

Having captured their pursuers, the four middle kids regrouped.

"Mission accomplished here," Tom stated.

"Yeah," Anne nodded. "Let's meet up with the other kids."

While the young teenagers were talking, someone approached them from behind. The moment the four turned around, they gasped in shock.

Meanwhile, four other masked men were racing through the halls searching for the rest of the Clan. All of a sudden, Chu-Chu ran by barking and dashed into an office room. Knowing he belonged to the Chan children, they followed him.

The very moment they entered the office room, they tripped over a coat rack which was placed there by Nancy and Mimi. "Come on!" Nancy told her younger sister.

Unfortunately for the two youngest Chan daughters, two of the fiends were able to swiftly get up and grab Mimi before she could leave the room. As he held Mimi up by her shirt, the scoundrel said to Nancy, "Hold it right there, little one, unless you want something to happen to your adorable little sister here."

Unable to leave without her sister, Nancy was forced to submit. "Now," the crook threatened, "are you gonna tell me where the rest of your little squad is or am I gonna have to get rough?"

Before Nancy could answer, a young voice shouted, "Let Mimi go!"

At that moment, little Scooter ran up to the masked criminal and stomped hard on his foot, forcing him to drop Mimi as he screamed in agony. It wasn't long until he stopped, turned towards Scooter, and snarled, "Why, you little…"

The crook and his three partners prepared to lunge for the youngest Chan child, but suddenly, Flip appeared waving Madam Lava's hypnotic necklace in front of them. "You are in power," he said to the crooks. "I am your master now."

The henchmen, now in a trance, replied in a hypnotic state, "Yes, master. We shall obey."

"Way to go, Chief!" Scooter cheered.

"Scooter Chan," Mimi lectured, "what were you thinking attacking that creep like that. You could've been harmed."

"Mimi…" Nancy put a stop to the unnecessary scolding.

While she was embarrassed to admit it, Mimi realized her little brother did save her and bashfully said, "Thanks, Scooter."

"You're welcome," her proud sibling smiled.

Meanwhile, in the factory's control room, Madam Lava entered with three of her henchmen.

"Those meddlesome kids," the corrupted gypsy swore. "The second they're captured, I'm selling them to an army."

The very moment Madam Lava sat down in her chair, a net was thrown over her. When her accomplices tried to assist her, a lasso rope ensnared them. The net was revealed to have been thrown by Henry and the lasso was tossed by Stanley, who proceeded to tying up the henchmen from their shoulders to their legs.

"Wow," Stanley snickered. "This stuff Anne bought really did come in handy."

Afterwards, Flip, Nancy, Mimi, Scooter, and Chu-Chu entered with the hypnotized henchmen.

"Alright!" Flip marveled. "You bagged the hag!"

"Right," Henry nodded. "Hey, where's Suzie and the others?"

"Haven't seen'em," Flip shrugged.

"Well, let's find them and then go down and free Pop," Henry ordered.

"We'll save you the trouble," said the voice of Anne.

Right away, their tomboy sister appeared at the door of the control room with Suzie, Alan, and Tom by her side. "I see you caught the double-crossing gypsy," she grinned.

"Yeah," said Stanley, "now all we gotta do is save Pop and we'll be on our way."

"That won't be necessary either," Tom told his older brother.

"Why not?" asked Scooter.

At that very instant, a familiar figure came from behind the four middle kids and said, "Because I do not really require rescuing." It was their father, Charlie Chan!

"Pop!" Henry, Stanley, and the four youngest Chan children happily shouted.

"You're not hypnotized anymore!" Mimi exclaimed.

"But how?" asked the dismayed Madam Lava.

With everyone inside of the control room, Charlie explained, "Sorry to disappoint you, Madam, but I've been free from your mind control for some time now. If I recall, we met hours after I arrived in Independence, and I believe that was when you used your hypnotic necklace on me, telling me to come to your Marigold Mountain Inn the very next day, but on my way, Lady Luck had me trip over a rock and bump my head on a nearby tree, thus snapping me out of my trance. When I noticed more hypnotized Chinese citizens heading for the inn, I made the decision to play along and follow them inside to discover what was happening to them. Alas, I left my cellular phone behind at the Pleasure Hotel and with guards watching me by day, the phones in the factory disconnected by night, and surveillance cameras watching both day and night, I had no way of contacting anyone, let alone my children at home, to assure them I was fine. I do apologize for concerning everyone."

"It's okay, Pop," Suzie assured. "We're just glad you're safe. Now with all this over, maybe I can meet up with Amelia tomorrow for another shopping trip."

"Amelia's your friend who told us Pop was at the Pleasure Hotel, right, Suzie?" Mimi asked.

"Right," her eldest sister nodded.

"Hey, wait a minute…" The mentioning of Suzie's friend caused Anne to remember something greatly important. Back in the city when she bumped into Amelia, the item that Amelia dropped and picked up was a golden emerald dragon necklace!

"That's it!" the teenaged tomboy acknowledged. "That's where I've seen that necklace! Your Chinese friend, what's her name, Amelia? She had one just like it!"

"Japanese!" Madam Lava angrily shouted with a younger voice.

"Hey," Scooter wondered, "how come her voice sounded different?"

Chu-Chu started to stare curiously at the elderly woman's face. He quickly noticed something strange and leaped up to grab her face with his teeth, revealing she was really wearing a mask. Once Chu-Chu removed the mask, the villainous woman's true face was revealed. The Chan family were shocked to see that Madam Lava was really the young Japanese girl, Amelia!

"Unreal!" said Alan.

"Amelia?" a devastated Suzie asked. "I don't believe it. But why?"

"Why?!" the furious Amelia insanely responded. "Because my whole life I've been compared to you Chinese! I'm sick and tired of being mistaken for one of you, so if there's a way to have less of you, I'll take it!"

"Boy, girly," Scooter opined, "you're nuts."

"Scooter," Mimi chastised, "don't be rude."

"No, Mimi, he's right," Flip agreed with his little brother. "She's a loony."

As Henry returned his father's necktie to him, Nancy sighed, "Well, at least we got Pop back and it's all over."

While placing his tie back on around his neck, Charlie disagreed, "Not quite, Nancy. I'm afraid it's far from over. The true culprit behind all this has yet to have been captured."

"What do you mean?" Flip puzzled. "Didn't we catch Madam Lava…uh…I mean, Amelia?"

"Come now, Flip," Charlie Chan corrected. "This Amelia may be as clever as she is insane, but it is quite impossible for someone her age to run an operation this immense on her own. She is indeed working with someone else."

The Chan family suddenly heard the sound of clapping hands behind them. At the door stood a caped man wearing a furry white wolf mask covering his face, applauding as he entered the control room.

"Uh, who is that guy?" Stanley nervously asked.

Once the mysterious figure ceased his clapping, Charlie calmly demanded, "Do be as so kind as to remove your mask…Tony Vito."

As told, the caped culprit took off his mask, revealing himself to be Charlie Chan's old nemesis, Tony Vito!


	17. The Bomb

**Chapter 17: The Bomb**

The Chan Clan were terribly shocked upon discovering the identity of the masked fiend.

"Tony Vito!" said Henry and Stanley.

"Tony Vito!" said Suzie, Alan, Anne, and Tom.

"Tony Vito!" said Flip and Nancy.

"Tony Vito!" Scooter repeated his siblings, then paused to ask, "Uh…who's Tony Vito?"

"The scumbag who iced Mom, that's who," Flip angrily answered.

A frightened Mimi clanged to Nancy upon hearing this. "W-W-What's he doing here?" she stuttered. "Shouldn't he s-s-still be in jail?"

"He probably played nice so he could get out early on parole," Flip surmised.

"Actually, little one," the sinister Vito corrected, "I escaped prison a year after I was caught. I wanted nothing more than to exact revenge on the man who put me away. Unfortunately, Mr. Chan, you had the nerve to move all the way to California before I could."

"So you actually came all the way here to carry out your revenge," Charlie deduced.

"Correct," Tony Vito continued. "Though I apologize it took so long. I did need time to steal the money I needed to run an operation this large. And don't get me wrong, I was willing to brainwash anyone to sell off, but dear Amelia's Chinese issue was the perfect way to make sure you'd get involved, Chan. Now, Mr. Detective, I'm curious. How long did you know I was the head of all of this?"

"I pretty much figured it was you the very moment I arrived at the inn," Charlie responded. "The main tip-off was the pink flag on the outside. The pink fur you outlined it with was the very same pink fur that was on Chunhua's coat. If I recall, my wife had her coat before you abducted her, but wasn't wearing it when she was returned to me. The flag even had the tag to Chunhua's coat still on it, which she had written her name on."

"Oh, my goodness, Mom's coat!" Suzie squealed. "I thought that fur looked familiar!"

"I don't see what everyone's so distraught about," taunted Tony. "I thought it was a perfect way to honor the memory of the late Mrs. Chan. Personally, I find it appealing."

As Chu-Chu growled fiercely at the fiend, an enraged Anne retorted, "Well, personally, we find it insulting, ya four-eyed deadbeat."

"If you think you're gonna get away with mocking our mom and brainwashing our pop, you got another thing coming," fumed Henry.

Despite being greatly outnumbered, the vile Tony Vito remained perfectly calm as he pulled out a small remote. "I'm afraid you all have a much bigger problem to concern yourselves with." Vito then pressed the button on the remote, causing an alarm to go off.

"What'd he do?" a terrified Nancy asked.

"Oh, nothing serious," Vito smirked. "I just activated a bomb in this control room."

"What?!" the Chan Clan yelped.

Vito continued, "Within ten minutes, this factory will explode. Not only will that wipe out everyone in it, but also, everyone in the Marigold Inn as well. So, you have two choices, Chan. Either you and your meddling kids try to capture me or find and stop the bomb." With that said, Tony Vito fled the room.

"He's getting away!" yelled Scooter.

"Never mind him, Scooter," said Charlie. "What's most important is that we take care of the bomb. Spread out and search for it."

Charlie and his children started looking around the control room. They looked behind every door, looked under every desk, and checked every file cabinet, but found nothing.

Chu-Chu tried sniffing the entire floor in search of the bomb, but also could not find its whereabouts. As he looked up in despair, he quickly saw something startling. The small canine ran to Flip's leg, tugging on his pants to get his attention.

"Not now, Chu-Chu," Flip dismissed. "We gotta find that bomb or we're all toast."

Determined to inform his owners, Chu-Chu imitated a police siren.

"Chu-Chu's trying to tell us something," Scooter informed his older siblings.

"What is it, Chu-Chu?" Henry asked their dog.

The faithful Chan pet pointed straight up and, looking in that direction, the Chan family found the bomb strapped high up on the ceiling.

"How are we gonna get it?" Stanley worried. "It's like four stories high!"

Fortunately, the Chan Clan leader quickly came up with a solution. "We can probably get it if we climb up on each other's shoulder and make like a totem pole," Henry suggested.

"Well," said Suzie, "I don't have any better ideas, so let's do it."

Stanley immediately climbed on Henry's shoulders. Afterwards, Suzie got on Stanley's shoulders, Alan got on Suzie's, Anne got on Alan's, Tom got on Anne's, Flip got on Tom's, Nancy got on Flip's, Mimi got on Nancy's, and Scooter got on Mimi's. The children formed a very tall totem pole, but were still unable to reach the bomb. They were only a few inches away from it. Urgently, Chu-Chu climbed to the very top, onto Scooter's shoulders, and grabbed the bomb with his bare teeth. With the bomb confiscated, everyone climbed down.

"Alright, Chu-Chu!" Anne complimented. "You the dog!"

"We're not out of the woods yet," Alan pointed out. "We still gotta defuse it by cutting one of those wires."

Staring at all the different colored wires, Flip asked, "Yeah, but which one?"

Time was not on their side. The Chans had only ten seconds before the bomb would explode. When they were down to five seconds, Stanley, without warning, just pulled the red wire. The timer on the bomb stopped, the alarm in the factory went silent, and the bomb was defused.

Stunned, Henry asked, "Okay, how did you know it was the red wire?"

"Are you kidding?" Stanley smiled. "It's always the red one. You should watch more TV."

As Chu-Chu and his siblings face palmed and groaned in frustration due to their brother's risky move, their father walked over to a large monitor screen near the controls. "Well, the important thing is that the bomb has been taken care and we're all safe," Charlie sighed.

"But that creep Vito got away," Flip grumbled.

"Not necessarily." Charlie showed a map of the factory on the monitor and informed his children, "During my stay here, I have learned about all the exits within the factory. Each exit requires a code to allow one to access through it. I have managed to change the code to all but one and that's the exit that leads to the abandoned subway station below us just east of here. It'll take Vito a while before he realizes this, so that will give me time to apprehend him. You all wait here while I…"

The moment Charlie turned around, he noticed all ten of his children and Chu-Chu were gone.

It wasn't hard for the knowledgeable father and detective to figure out where they all went. "Aiya," he sighed.


	18. Rescue Suzie

**Chapter 18: Rescue Suzie**

The Chan Clan quickly arrived to the door that lead to the subway station, and next to the door was a keypad on the wall.

"I guess we gotta put in the code to open the door," Flip figured. "But what is it?"

"Perhaps we should head back to our mutual parent to see if he knows it," Tom suggested. "Or perhaps we could reset the code ourselves from here to gain entry to the old subway station."

Bored with her brother's suggestions, Anne merely pulled the handle on the door. "How about we just open it, genius?" she retorted.

"But how?" Tom puzzled. "Pop said a code was needed to open the exit doors around here."

"It's just a hunch," Henry theorized, "but it probably means Vito was already here and came through. We better hurry before he gets away!"

The Clan quickly ran through the door, went down a long stairway, and entered the top floor of the enormous old underground subway station.

"Boy, this place is humongous!" Stanley exclaimed.

"Yeah. Looks like we'll have to split up again," Henry instructed. "Everyone, check behind every door, look in every empty room you can find, and if you see Vito, scream."

As ordered, the Chan Clan went their separate ways. Each one checked a room in search of their adversary. Alas, there was no sign of him.

Suzie, figuring she'll have better luck on the second floor, walked down the stairs. Once she reached the bottom of the steps, she found herself near the subway tracks, and on the tracks were two handcars.

"Hmm," the third eldest Chan child thought out loud to herself, "maybe there was a third handcar and Vito used it to escape."

"Not quite," a sinister voice said.

Suzie turned around and found Tony Vito standing right behind her!

Forthwith, Vito grabbed the eldest Chan daughter and covered her mouth before she could scream for help. Even worse, the heinous man quickly became intrigued by Suzie's appearance.

"My," Tony Vito flirted, "you appear to have your mother's lovely face. I couldn't make her my wife, but I believe in four or five years, you'll do perfectly."

Tony attempted to leave with the captive Suzie on the handcar, but the moment he got within a foot of the subway tracks, Anne leapt onto his back and gripped him in a stranglehold.

"Let her alone, you rat!" the ambitious tomboy shouted as she continued her hold on the villain.

Unfortunately, the most muscular of the masked henchmen appeared from behind, grabbed Anne by the back of her shirt, and threw her against the stairs, breaking her left arm.

As Vito continued to the handcar with Suzie, the henchman approached the injured Anne with a chain, preparing to beat her with it.

"Well," the masked man sneered, "as you say in Chinese, 'Zài jiàn'."

The voice of Alan interrupted the thug's assault, "And as we say in America, 'Heads up'!"

A chair was thrown by the inventing genius from the top of the stairs and onto the masked hoodlum's head, knocking him unconscious.

As Alan came to his injured sister, Anne reluctantly thanked him, "Uh, nice save."

"What are big brothers for?" Alan smiled. "You okay, Anne?"

Tom came down the stairs, followed by Chu-Chu and the rest of the Chan Clan. "It appears her left upper limb has had a physical trauma caused by the brute's external force," the intelligent brother stated.

"Yeah, and I think that guy broke my arm, too," Anne said as Alan helped her to her feet. "But never mind me. Vito's getting away with Suzie!"

Everyone looked on in horror as Tony Vito, with one hand holding Suzie captive, escaped down the tracks on one of the handcars.

A determined Henry, however, was not willing to let that happen. "Over _his_ dead body!" he said.

Rapidly, Henry got on the other handcar and chased after the family's nemesis. "Vito," the strong-willed Chan silently swore, "you took my mother away from me. I'm not letting you take my sister!"

Henry managed to tail Vito over three miles down the tracks. They eventually entered a large, old cave and came to a fork in the tracks. Tony went down the tracks on his left with Henry following in hot pursuit. Sadly, no one saw the worn-out sign on the dark cave wall that said, "Dead End. Do Not Enter."

The Chan Clan leader continued his chase, but Tony Vito was already too far ahead. Fearing he may lose track of Vito, Henry decided to come up with a new plan to save Suzie. He looked up and saw many stalagmites on the cavern wall. Fortunately, he still had the rope he used on Scooter earlier. Henry quickly slowed down his handcar and lassoed one of the stalagmites high above him.

"Time to make like Tarzan," he said to himself before shouting to his sister, "Suzie! Get ready to jump!" He then swung over to Tony's handcar.

Seeing her brother coming to her aid, Suzie, desperate to free herself, elbowed her captor hard in the stomach. As Vito held his stomach in agony, Suzie jumped into Henry's arm the very moment he reached her and they both swung back to safety.

Not paying attention to the tracks, the enraged Tony Vito vowed, "You Chans think you have won, but this isn't over! I'll be back and I will destroy the whole Chan family!"

While hanging from his rope with Suzie, Henry looked ahead and shouted, "Vito! Stop! The tracks are out!"

Vito turned and saw that the rest of the tracks were gone and he was headed for a cliff. The petrified villain attempted to stop his handcar, but was much too late. His handcar went over the cliff and Tony Vito fell to his demise.


	19. Case Closed

**Chapter 19: Case Closed**

Back at the underground subway station, the rest of the Clan, now with their father, waited anxiously for their eldest brother and eldest sister's return. Much to their great relief, they soon saw Henry and Suzie riding back on their handcar.

"Hooray!" the eight kids cheered. "Hooray for Henry!"

"Are you two all right?" Charlie asked his eldest son and daughter.

As Chu-Chu leapt into Suzie's arms to lick her face, Henry replied, "Fine, Pop, and that's more than I can say for Tony Vito. Believe me, I don't think he'll be coming after us again."

Knowing what his son meant, Charlie placed a hand on his shoulder. "You needn't blame yourself, Henry," the caring father assured. "Tony Vito himself was responsible for making his own fate. The important thing is that everyone is safe and that this case has finally been closed."

"Yep," Flip grinned, "this case is officially wrapped up. Right, Scooter?"

"Right, Chief," the loyal little brother agreed.

The protective father had more to say, "And I also hope you all now finally realize how perilous detective work can really be."

"Yeah," Anne nodded. "It's…awesome!"

"I'll say!" Stanley agreed.

"I can't wait 'til the next caper!" said Flip.

"Me too!" Scooter agreed.

"Same here!" said Alan.

"Indubitably," Tom nodded.

As the ten kids chattered on about how much they enjoyed their first adventure, their father again sighed, "Aiya."

An hour later, the police had surrounded the Marigold Mountain Inn. Outside, the hypnotized Chinese were free from their mind control and ready to return home, the masked henchmen, as well as the minions working in all of the hotels and inns of Independence, were all arrested, and the treacherous Amelia was wrapped in a straitjacket, on her way to a juvenile detention center.

"A female culprit," Tom thought to himself as he watched Amelia be taken away. "Must be one of those occasional flukes. I highly doubt this'll happen again."

Anne, who only heard half of what her younger brother said, asked, "Doubt what will happen again?"

Not wanting to earn his sister's wrath again, Tom stammered, "Huh? Oh, uh…uh…n-nothing."

"Oh, Chan!" a voice said. "There you are!"

The Chan family turned and found the mustached Sergeant Barnwell coming towards them.

"I'm glad you and your family are safe," he waved.

"Pop!" Flip sputtered. "Don't you know who that is?"

"Indeed, Flip," the calm father answered. "This is Sergeant Barnwell."

"Why aren't you surprised?" asked the eldest Chan son. "Isn't he the cop who used to work for Vito?"

"Not quite, Henry," Charlie corrected. "That deceiving officer was named Sergeant Ralph Barnwell. This fine fellow here is his younger brother, Sergeant Victor Barnwell."

"His brother?" the Chan Clan said, greatly surprised.

"But then why was he always following us?" asked Mimi.

Her father further explained, "Being that I was uncertain how long I'd be gone, I asked another policeman from Independence to watch over all of you before I left."

"And I was more than happy to do so," Victor Barnwell added. "It was the least I could do to atone for my treacherous brother's actions."

"Gee, Sergeant," Anne apologized, "we're sorry."

"Yeah," said Nancy. "We shouldn't have jumped to conclusions like that."

"Yeah," Flip agreed, "but don't worry. We'll _never_ do that again. You can count on it."

Charlie Chan couldn't help but roll his eyes after hearing this. "Why do I doubt that?" he muttered to himself.


	20. A New Beginning

**Chapter 20: A New Beginning**

Several days later, the Chan family, whom had long returned home, resumed their normal lives. Outside, Anne, now wearing a cast for her broken left arm, came to the front door with Chu-Chu, carrying a grocery bag.

"Real nice, huh, Chu-Chu?" she complained. "They need milk, so they send the girl with the broken arm out to get it."

Chu-Chu couldn't help but snicker about the young tomboy's complaint.

Anne opened the front door and entered a dark room. "Hey," she asked herself, "what gives with the lights?"

The moment Anne flicked on the light switch to the living room, her family appeared from behind the couch, throwing confetti. "Surprise!" everyone shouted. "Happy birthday, Anne!"

"Aw, you guys," Anne groaned irritatedly, "I keep telling you not to do this. You know I hate birthdays."

"Come on, Anne," Suzie, carrying her sister's birthday cake, said. "We understand how you feel about your birthday, but, you know, we still want to celebrate it with you."

"You know, Annie," Alan commented, "I'm pretty sure Mom wouldn't want you spending the rest of your life hating your birthday because of her."

"Your sister and brother are right, Anne," Charlie agreed. "One mustn't dwell on the past. I, too, believe you should enjoy the celebration of the day of your birth with the rest of your family for your mother's sake, as well as your own."

These wise words were moving to Chan's fifth child, and she slowly sighed, "The things I do for family. Fine. Whatever makes ya happy."

Chu-Chu leapt into Anne's right arm, licking her face after hearing this, and her siblings all cheered, "Yay!"

"And now for your birthday present!" Stanley announced.

Mimi and Scooter ran back behind the family's couch and pulled out a brand new guitar.

"Hey!" beamed Anne as she let the family dog down. "That's the guitar I wanted!"

"Correct," Tom added, "and now you're officially part of the Chan Clan Band. You may feel free to perform with us anytime you wish…uh, after your arm has healed, of course."

Deeply moved, Anne smiled, "Well, what else can I say, but…thanks, everybody."

With that, the Chan Clan shared a group hug. It was a touching moment for the Chan family. However, it was quickly interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing.

"I'll get it!" Henry went over to answer the telephone, but, once again, Flip zoomed over and picked up the phone before him. "Some things never change," seethed Henry.

"Hello?" Flip answered the phone. "Okay, I'll get him. It's the fuzz, Pop."

Charlie spoke into the phone, "Hello? Really? I see. I'll be right down." The keen detective hung up.

"What is it, Pop?" asked the curious Scooter.

"It appears a valuable painting from the Sodalite Museum has been stolen," Charlie answered. "I apologize for leaving so soon, but I assure you, I will not be long."

"Aw, come on, Pop," griped Flip. "Can't we go?"

"No need, Flip," his father declined. "I'm certain I can handle this. You all stay here and continue Anne's birthday. I will see you in a few hours."

With that, the world famous detective left the house, got in his car, and left for the Sodalite Museum.

"Aw, no fair!" Mimi whined.

"So, now what?" asked Nancy.

Anne quickly came up with a sneaky idea and replied, "Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I feel like going to the movies."

"The movies?" puzzled Suzie.

"Yeah," Anne nodded. "I hear they got some good ones playing at the Fantasy Movie Theatre."

Tom instantly realized something. "Isn't that theater right next door to the Sodalite Museum?"

"Why, yes, I believe it is," Anne smirked. "And if we, by chance, happen to see Pop along the way, it couldn't hurt to stop and say hi, could it?"

Flip promptly picked up what his older sister was hinting. "And if we find a clue or two to the missing painting while we're there…"

"I get what you're all thinking, but forget it. Pop said no," Henry said. The eldest sibling paused for a moment and had a quick change of heart. "But…if Anne really wants to go to the movies for her birthday, why not?" he grinned.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" bubbled Scooter.

The Chan Clan then said together, "Wham bam! Let's jam!"

The ten kids and Chu-Chu all raced into the Chan Van and drove off to help with their next case.

THE END


End file.
